article
Labor specialization and the formation of markets for food in a Shipibo subsistance economy
Human ecology • 20 (4) • Published In 1992 • Pages: 435-462
By: Behrens, Clifford A..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This paper examines the relationship between food production and exchange, and the manner in which this relationship is affected by a shift from a subsistence to a market-oriented economy. Analysis of Shipibo production and exchange data reveals that cash cropping has produced two groups of specialists within the formerly subsistence economy. The first group produces rice for regional markets and includes households with fewer women, but continues to exchange food within the traditional kin-based exchange system when it can. The second group contains men whose superior abilities as fishers and hunters are well recognized, and who now frequently sell wild food (fish and game) to rice producers, rather than distribute it freely. To better understand this specialization, a formal theory that replicated the formation of cash markets for food and labor in a subsistence economy is developed based on the ethnographic literature for the Amazon and on the theory of time allocation (pp. 435-436).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Gift giving
- Buying and selling
- Labor and leisure
- Household
- Extended families
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Shipibo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- June 1980-August 1981
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1980-1981
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- village of Nuevo Eden, headwaters of the Pisqui River, Peru
- NotesAdditional notes
- Clifford A. Behrens
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 460-462)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 72623826
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Shipibo-Conibo Indians